


Guilty Pleasures

by friendlybomber



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Divine!Cassandra, Drabble, Gen, Post-Canon, Swords & Shields
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:43:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7270624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlybomber/pseuds/friendlybomber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Varric gives Cassandra a gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guilty Pleasures

**Author's Note:**

> i find this is best read in Cassandra's voice tbh

Cassandra didn’t like to admit that she followed Varric’s stories, even so many years after they parted ways officially. She certainly didn’t want to confess that the Divine herself was base enough to enjoy such silly things as cheap paperback romance novels – _smutty_ romance novels, written by none other than an old friend from her days in the Inquisition. Still, that furtive shelf in her chambers in the Grand Cathedral filled itself up almost like magic as the years wore on – unsteadily, yes, but Varric was never too fond of his romance serials. Every issue’s cliffhanger had Cassandra on the edge of her seat, the very real threat of permanent discontinuation leering over her. It was a burden she bore in silence. No one had to know. It was their little secret.

And, oh yes, Varric knew. He was probably sitting in the Viscount’s Keep in Kirkwall with a smug smirk on his face, laughing to himself that the Divine Victoria herself was a patron of his most depraved and humiliatingly terrible writing. They had not spoken in years, and yet they _knew_. She would wring his neck if he ever said so out loud, though. She would make sure of it.

In the end, he managed to do something entirely worse than talk his way out. It had been nearly a decade since Cassandra had become Victoria, and she managed to steal away for a few rare undisturbed moments of secrecy. In her hands she clutched a book – _the_ book – the last issue of _Swords & Shields_. Certain that no one was watching her, she tore open the front cover.

The first page was entirely blank, save for three little black words amidst the sea of creamy white. Her face flushed red at the embarrassment; everyone would know. They would instantly know who he was referring to! Oh, that snake! He had exposed her to the world after all those years! For a moment, she almost didn’t turn the page to the book proper out of anger. Then she hesitated; after all, she could always kill Varric later, after she had read his story. She had followed his writing for so many long years, and she was not about to abandon him just because he had the gall to… to… to what? To give her a gift?

She sighed. Maybe she wouldn’t kill him after all. It _was_ sweet, she supposed. Stealing just a few more precious moments, she settled against the wall to begin the last chapter of _Swords & Shields_, turning over the page on which was printed so carefully in plain black letters: _For the Seeker._


End file.
